As Britain's most popular arts TV programme, The Show Bank Show regularly features the likes of Salman Rushdie and Harold Pinter.

But on Sunday night a group of primary school kids from Gateshead will be joining the long list of cultural icons to appear on the show front by Melvyn Bragg.

Carr Hill Primary, Deckham, and Brandling Primary, Felling, are two of the schools which have been taking part in Gateshead Council's Bring on the Boys initiative, which aims to get young boys singing to improve their self-confidence.

Presenter Melvyn Bragg said: "The quality of music work being done in schools in the North East is astonishingly high.

"To see these young children on the South Bank Show is inspiring.

"I had the luck to join a choir and sing at school from the age of about six. Apart from having a terrific time, it turned out much later that without knowing it, I'd picked up a very good musical education.

About 100 children from Carr Hill Primary and 50 children from Brandling Primary took part in filming at Carr Hill's state-of-the-art performing arts studio in June. Callum Kidd, headteacher at Carr Hill, said: "If you can raise their self-esteem, the knock-on effect is seen throughout the whole curriculum."

Maggie Mitford, headteacher of Brandling, said: "The boys thoroughly enjoy the singing and they have really come out of themselves.

"It's given them confidence."

Composer Howard Goodall, who made the documentary, described the project, which involves 2,000 Gateshead boys, as "inspired".

A Musical Nation can be seen on the South Bank Show on ITV at 11.05pm on Sunday.